By Tyler Kepner, The New York Times, August 29, 2021
Roberto Clemente won two championships with the Pittsburgh Pirates, one when he was young and the other near the end of his brief life. For the first, in 1960, everyone else on the World Series roster was white, except for two teammates at the end of the bench. The second roster, in 1971, was much different.
Fifty years ago on Wednesday — about a month before the start of a postseason he would make his own — Clemente found himself batting third in a lineup unlike any that had come before. For the first time in the history of the National or the American League, a team fielded a lineup that was entirely composed of people of color.
“Roberto said to me, ‘Sangy, I never thought I’d see that in my life,’” said Manny Sanguillen, 77, the catcher that night. “He was proud to see nine guys playing, and he said, ‘I’m glad I’m participating in that for the Pittsburgh Pirates.’”
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